Friday 10/3/14

This week’s LifeTeen Question of the Week comes from Joe Bradley. Joe asks:

Why do we call it a "blessing" from God to be so lucky to have a house, food, etc. when there are people starving in other areas?


The short answer to your question is that we call it a blessing to have a house, food, and other good things precisely because people in other areas do not have them. Calling these things “blessings” helps us to recognize that we could just as easily have been born someplace else and not had any of them. Reminding ourselves that all good things around us are blessings prevents us from feeling like we have good things because of something innately special about us. Rather, it helps us to recognize that it is God who has given us the good things. When we think like this, it prevents us from feeling like we are somehow better than people who go without. We realize that those people with nothing are our neighbors.

When asked what was necessary to get into heaven, Jesus replied that we have to love God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, and with all our mind. We also have to love our neighbor. Think of someone you really love, like a sibling or a best friend.

What if that person had no safe place to sleep tonight? I’m willing to bet that you would do whatever it took to make sure they got one, even if it meant (Gasp!) sharing your room. What would you do if you saw that person starving while you had plenty of food? If your answer is anything other than “feed them,” we have got some issues to work out.

Blessing is both a noun, and a verb. That is not an accident. When we receive blessings, we are expected to use them to bless others. It is like what Father Chris always says, “To whom much is given, much is expected.” We have the blessing of material wealth. We have things like a home, plenty of food, access to medical care, sanitary living conditions, clean water. We are called now to share these blessings with others.

Interestingly enough, Jesus did not call these things blessings. Instead, Jesus said “Blessed are the poor.” This seems really confusing. How can people whose basic needs aren’t being met be called “blessed?” Their blessing is God’s kingdom. Jesus said it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. Perhaps there is some other sort of blessing in poverty, as well.

Did you know that Gallup has a survey they use to measure happiness? They do. They ask questions like: “Do you feel respected,” and “Did you smile or laugh recently?” They use the answers to these questions to form what they call their Positive Experience Index. I bet you are excited to see which countries scored the highest!

The top five scoring countries are: Paraguay, Panama, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Ecuador. Here are those same countries ranked by GDP (Gross Domestic Product, a general metric for measuring the wealth of a nation) per capita:

Paraguay: 110
Panama: 61
Guatemala: 124
Nicaragua: 131
Ecuador: 89

These numbers reveal what wise people have been saying for years: having good things and being happy are not necessarily the same thing.

It looks like there’s a blessing for everyone.


If you have a question you would like Mike to answer, submit it under the “Ask Mike” section of our website. To guarantee that your question is chosen, write it on the back of a Wendy’s or Chipotle gift card and mail it to: